


She screamed

by CherryBlossomLesbian



Series: Prompt Fills [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Nightmares, Prompt Fill, Red Room (Marvel), Tumblr Ask Box Fic, ambiguous canon setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27889438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CherryBlossomLesbian/pseuds/CherryBlossomLesbian
Summary: Natasha has a nightmare and wakes up screaming. Maria comforts her.
Relationships: Maria Hill/Natasha Romanov
Series: Prompt Fills [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978546
Comments: 2
Kudos: 58





	She screamed

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: emotional hurt/comfort scene with nat waking up from a nightmare?
> 
> Warning: The implied child abuse is super super minor and isn't directly said, but I added the tag just in case.

"Again." 

Madame B's voice was rough, her tone lingering between anger and disappointment. 

The rest of the widows slowly but surely stood up on their toes, the soft, baby pink fabric of their ballet shoes wrinkling up at the movement. 

They all performed a perfect pointe, while Natasha stood frozen in place. 

She wanted to move, was trying to move, but her feet stayed firmly planted on the ground. She could do this, she knew she could do this. She'd done it a million times before, under the watchful eyes of Madame B and countless others. 

But it felt as if her body couldn't be controlled by her mind. Her brain was running a mile a minute, trying to order her muscles around, to move, but her body didn't even respond with even a twitch. 

Madame B scammed over the room, all the girls in impeccable position, and then her eyes settled on Natasha. 

She felt her own eyes begin to well up with tears, her chest feeling right as she held back from sobbing. 

Madame B stared at her, eyes boring into Natasha as if seeing her very soul through her skin. 

The entire world around her disappeared, everything being replaced with pitch black darkness. 

She screamed. 

Her body seized up in fear as she was bolted upright in bed, her own shrieks filling her ears. 

Her chest heaved up and down, tears cascading rapidly down her cheeks and falling unceremoniously onto the bedsheets and her t-shirt. Her own cries were making her choke on air, and causing her to cough so harshly she had to grab onto the nightstand next to the bed to keep her balance. 

When her screams began to dull, vocal chords refusing to admit any more sound, she was finally able to hear a gentle humming coming from besides her. 

Even through her blurry vision due to the tears swimming in her eyes, she could recognize Maria. 

Maria, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed next to her and was humming a song from Beauty and the Beast. Maria, who despite her coarse and harsh outward expressions, just seemingly melted in happiness from Natasha running her fingers through her short locks. Maria, who was in fleece candy cane pajamas pants and a sweatshirt that had 'cutie-pie' written in swirly pink letters above a cartoon drawing of a cherry pie. 

Maria, who always knew exactly what to say and do. 

"Popsicle and sweater?' She asked after a few more beats of silence, allowing Natasha to come down from the emotional high for a bit longer before offering to start their normal post- nightmare ritual. 

Natasha nodded as she wiped away a few more tears on her cheeks with the heel of her hand. 

It was common for at least one of them to have a nightmare so bad they woke up screaming at least once a week. It happened to her more, but that didn't mean Maria didn't get her fair share of them as well. 

Over the past few months, they'd began to develop a simple system for when these events occurred. They had a few boxes of popsicles sitting in their freezer, to help soothe their throat after screaming. They also each had a selection of sweaters in the bedroom closet to give to the other after a nightmare. They'd learned it was highly beneficial if they could have something that even vaguely smelled of the other, and they were typically able to fall asleep if they had their girlfriend's sweater. 

Maria slowly climbed off the bed to go grab a popsicle, leaving Natasha alone momentarily. 

She decided to help even her breathing while Maria was gone- her breathes were still coming out shallow and uneven. She took a few deep breaths, focusing on her diaphragm. 

By the time her breaths were finally coming in steadily, Maria was coming back into the bedroom with a bright red popsicle in hand and a bundle of black fabric tucked under her arm. 

"I got you cherry." She commented as he handed the wooden end of the popsicle stick to Nat and unfurled the fabric, revealing one of Maria's SHIELD sweaters with the logo printed on. 

"It's fresh from the dryer, I thought that would be cozy." Maria added, voice soft with understanding and empathy. 

Natasha just nodded to signal she had heard her girlfriend and began to eat the popsicle, the cold soothing her throat like numbing cream to skin. 

When the popsicle was gone and Nat had the lingering taste of artificial cherry on her tongue, plus the warmth of her girlfriend's sweater wrapped around her upper body and torso, her and Maria laid back down in bed with their fingers intertwined. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Maria asked, squeezing Natasha's hand, a surefire way to help keep her grounded to the present even if her mind is drifting. 

Natasha tosses the idea around in her head for a minute. It wasn't a secret that one of the most common things Natasha dreamt about was Madame B and the Red Room, as well as her feelings of having no control manifesting into nightmares as well. 

But it was only 2am, and she was pretty sure if she talked about it she'd get all worked up again and wouldn't be able to sleep a wink. 

"Maybe in the morning." She shrugs. "I want to sleep more. Don't think I'll be able to if I talk." 

Maria nods. "Whenever and if you want to talk about it, I'm here, okay? Remember that." 

Maria reaches out to gently move a few stray strands of Natasha bright red hair out of her face and behind her ear, before moving her hand to cradle the side of Natasha's face. 

"I love you so much." She says, and it doesn't matter how many times Maria has said those exact words to Natasha, every single time feels like the first. 

"And I love you, Agent Hill." Natasha replies, voice still a tiny bit raspy. 

Even in the low light of their bedroom, Natasha notices the way Maria's lips curl into an involuntarily smile at being called her official name by her girlfriend. 

Maria moves her hand away from Natasha's face to go back to holding hands with her, connecting them in the empty in-between of their queen-sized bed. 

Maria's eyes begin to slip closed, but before they do, she whispers out a goodnight. 

"Goodnight, love." Natasha responds as her own eyelids grow heavy, and she gives in with her body's demand to drift off to sleep. 

The rest of the night is nightmare-free, for both Natasha and Maria.

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to submit a prompt for me to write, check out the notes of my prompt fills series this fic is in! 
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/cartersleia)
> 
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